UTSC postdoctoral fellow Lisa-Marie Collimore received a Mitacs award on November 28 for her work on commercializing Cogneeto.

As a Ph.D. graduate from OISE with a focus on child development and
psychology, Lisa-Marie Collimore was a perfect fit to help
commercialize an already powerful learning tool for young
students.

And her tireless work in developing Cogneeto, an online peer- and
self-assessment education tool for students in Grade 8 to Grade 12,
was officially recognized at the annual Mitacs awards ceremony in
Ottawa on November 28.

She was joined by four other young researchers highlighted by
Mitacs among the thousands who take part in its programs each
year.

“It feels truly amazing to be recognized but I must dedicate
this award to the entire Cogneeto team,” said Collimore,
acknowledging the creators of Cogneeto UTSC professor Steve Joordens
and graduate student Dwayne Paré, along with the software and
website developers.

Mitacs is a government-funded research network that brings together
academia, industry and the public sector to develop research-based
commercial products. In handing out the award, The Hon. Gary Goodyear,
Minister of State for Science and Technology, commended Collimore on
her research that led to the rebranding and further development of
Cogneeto, which is now being marketed to every secondary school in
North America.

Cogneeto was originally created by UTSC professor Steve Joordens
and graduate student Dwayne Paré after the success of
peerScholar, the online educational tool they developed to enhance
critical thinking skills in post-secondary classrooms.

Collimore joined the Cogneeto team to oversee research and to
closely with students and teachers in assessing the effectiveness and
usability of the software. She received a two-year Mitacs fellowship
in 2010 and during that time supervised the school-level pilot testing
and conducted a number of research projects within the context of the
fellowship.

Her research into the educational potential of the software was not
only published, it lead to important changes to Cogneeto itself that
made it more accessible, effective and commercially viable.

“She helped make Cogneeto an even better learning tool, so
this award is great recognition of how important her research was with
respect to enhancing its commercial potential,” said
Joordens.

Cogneeto is currently being sold to more than 200 schools across
Canada and will be available in the U.S. school market next year.

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